The Road to J. O. Y.Sýnishorn

Sell Out for God

In the off-season of 2019, I started reaching out to men of faith I felt I could learn from. We knew we needed to increase our pursuit of God and incorporate Jesus into our program.

One thing I’ve long believed: God meets our needs before we know we have them. We just need to know where to look, and then be willing to see it as something that meets our needs. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

For me, I was able to lean on people I knew were head coaches of great faith. I called Dabo Swinney. I called Tony Dungy. They started to tell me about the culture of J.O.Y.

J.O.Y., they told me, stood for Jesus, Others, Yourself. Jesus needed to be in the front of everything, and it was our job as coaches to help our players see that.

That was a really dedicated summer. We brought in speakers constantly, whether they were from the outside or former NBA coaches, anyone we felt had the wisdom to give us; we wanted to deepen our well. Tony Gaskins was a life coach who worked with our former player Ekpe Udoh with the Utah Jazz, and one day he was in town and asked if he could come by. I said absolutely. He spoke to the players about accountability and how God is always watching everything we do. And, yes, we will mess up, but true spiritual maturity comes through the same, boring habits each and every day.

We didn’t force anything, but God put people in our lives and in our path who were able to speak truth in a way that fostered growth with all of us, including and especially me.

One of my good friends in Waco runs a company that sells lettermen jackets. He is intentional about leading his staff meetings each day in prayer, and they have employee Bible studies. He doesn’t separate his work from his faith. To him, they are one and the same. God has equipped my friend to be generous and has blessed the work that he does in God’s name. As his business grows, he meets more people. And the more people he meets, either as customers or as employees, the more he can share the gospel.

I’m always impressed with people who are able to seamlessly blend their faith and their jobs in ways that draw more people to God. I’ve tried to do that in my life, and lately, I’ve been blessed with a couple of people who have come into my life that I’ve been able to experience that with.

Rem Bakamus joined us as a graduate assistant a couple of years ago after being one of Gonzaga’s most popular walk-ons. He was supposed to leave after the 2020 season, but because of COVID, he was granted an extra year of eligibility. Known for his man-bun and elaborate handshake routines when he was with the Zags, he cut his hair and toned down the bench activity for us. But he’s still an amazingly fun young man.

Peyton Prudhomme won an NAIA championship with Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth. After finishing his playing career, he joined us as a grad assistant too. Both Rem and Peyton worked incredibly hard for us, cutting up video, scouting opponents, and helping with our practices. But they both also started asking me, and our staff at various times, more about faith and the things I’ve learned along the road as a Christian and a coach. As they worked with us, you could absolutely see and feel how they were each growing in their faith.

And the thing is, that’s 100 percent not about me. I’m happy Jesus can use me in that way, but I was just the viewing screen. It’s His movie. That’s my favorite thing about our team and program being a ministry. I grow as much as anyone during the season because I’m around amazing coaches and players and in an atmosphere that we intentionally ask God to be a part of every day. We’ve structured our routine in ways that make time with God as common as a workout or a meal. Ironically, our coaches all said that we feel like our healthiest spiritual times are during the season, because we are all together and so disciplined in our pursuit of God.

And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as our discipline and commitment to God improved in our work lives, our team’s performance improved as well.

In the lead-up to the season, we talked about what it would look like for us to try to implement the culture of J.O.Y. into our daily routines. So, how do you consistently put Jesus in front of yourself? Well, it starts by trying to encourage daily rhythms of prayer and Bible study, which we encouraged our team to do. And it also meant literally saying Jesus’ name before you said anything else. So we started working with our team about giving what we called “J.O.Y. interviews,” where when the media would ask them a question, they thanked Jesus, then their teammates, before they said anything about what they had done themselves.

It seemed like a simple thing, but the daily habit of denying yourself and elevating others and the name of Jesus can have a profound impact on anyone’s life.

After all, the point is to become less so He can become greater. John 3:30 says, “He must become greater; I must become less.” But it is not because God wants us to be diminished. If anything, He wants more for us than we can even imagine for ourselves. And only He can give it to us. That’s why we put Him first. It’s our best shot.

Respond

Explain how your life changed when Jesus came into it.

Write a prayer of praise to Jesus.

Prayer

Precious Jesus, I am all in. Show me what needs to change in my life!